*  ? 


t 


. 

r 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN. 


A  SERMON 


OCCASIONED  BY  THE  DEATH 


t 

Cjp  Instill: 


IRrigljt, 


PREACHED  TO  THE 


FAMILIES  OF  THE  HISTORIAN  MISSION, 

AT 

OROOMIAH,  PERSIA,  FEB.  Sth,  1865. 


By  BEY.  J.  PERKINS,  D.  D . 


NEW  YORK: 

EDWARD  O.  JENKINS,  PRINTER, 
No.  20  North  William  Street. 

1865. 


From  the  Records  of  the  Nestorian  Mission: 

'  ■  % 

Voted,  That  Dr.  Perkins  be  requested  to  furnish  a  copy  of  his  Sermon 
preached  in  memory  of  our  lamented  Associate  Dr.  Wright,  for  the 
Archives,  and  also  a  copy  for  the  use  of  the  Prudential  Committee. 


Feb.  n,  1865. 


J.  H.  SHEDD. 


TO 


Slu  Widow  awd  ©rjrftattis 

or 

“THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN,” 

THIS  SERMON 


AFFECTIONATELY  INSCRIBED  BY  THEIR  DEEPLY 
SYMPATHIZING  FRIEND, 


THE  AUTHOR. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2018  with  funding  from 
Columbia  University  Libraries 


https://archive.org/details/belovedphysicianOOperk 


SERMON. 


“Thebeloved  physician.” — Col.  iv.  11. 

“  The  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved.” — John  xix.  26 

When  these  two  Scripture  quotations,  among  others,  were 
read  at  our  brother’s  interment,  none  present  could  help  re¬ 
sponding  to  their  beautiful  appropriateness  to  his  case.  It  was 
said,  by  some  one,  of  the  late  John  Angel  James,  of  Birming¬ 
ham,  that  it  took  two  apostles  to  describe  him,  John  and  James  ; 
and  another  facetiously  added  that  it  required  also  an  angel  be¬ 
tween  the  two  apostles.  We  have  no  heart  to  indulge  in  hyper¬ 
bole  on  this  solemn  and  mournful  occasion.  The  remarkably 
faultless  character  of  our  departed  brother  needs  none  ;  nay,  its 
transparent  simplicity  and  scrupulously  sensitive  truthfulness 
forbid  it.  Nor  have  we  come  together  mainly  to  pronounce,  or 
hear  pronounced  a  funeral  eulogy,  in  the  common  acceptation 
of  that  term.  Our  tears  are  not  yet  dry  since  our  communion, 
four  months  ago,  was  made  a  funeral  occasion  by  the  removal 
of  Miss  Fiske,  who  died  far  away.  Now,  added  to  that  sore 
affliction,  the  pall  of  death  has  again  fallen  upon  our  circle  in  a 
yet  more  affecting  form,  suddenly  taking  from  our  midst  our 
u  beloved  physician,”  “  the  disciple  whom  Christ  loved.” 

It  is  then  to  weep  and  mutually  condole,  rather  than  to  eulo¬ 
gize,  that  we  are  assembled  to-day.  Yet  in  doing  so  it  is  meet 
that  we  endeavor  to  catch  a  few  glimpses  of  the  pathway,  mark 
some  of  the  leading  traits,  and  garner  some  of  the  precious 
memories  of  our  brother,  to  enshrine  them  the  more  deeply  in 
our  hearts  for  our  own  benefit.  And  while  we  have  no  disposi¬ 
tion  to  apply  Scripture  inappropriately  in  this  or  any  other 
case,  we  need  not  conceal  our  impression  of  the  suitableness  of 
associating  with  his  memory,  in  the  choice  of  our  text,  the  two 


/ 


6 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN. 


evangelists,  Luke  and  John,  not  merely  from  the  circumstance 
that  he  was  a  physician  as  well  as  a  preacher,  but  also  from  the 
traits  possessed  respectively  in  common,  whether  we  contem¬ 
plate  the  deep  and  almost  mysterious  pathos  of  one  of  those 
evangelists,  or  the  genial  amiability  and  refined  culture  of  the 
other. 

On  the  late  mournful  occasion  to  which  I  have  referred,  it 
may  be  recollected  that  I  uttered  the  prayer  that  I  might 
never  again  be  called  to  preach  the  funeral  sermon  of  a 
younger  associate.  And  could  I  properly  have  declined  the 
appointment  in  this  instance,  I  would  have  done  so ;  not  that 
the  task  is  ungrateful  to  me  ;  it  is  quite  the  reverse,  deeply  try¬ 
ing  as  it  is ;  but  the  event  that  occasions  it  is  so  sorrowful  and 
so  profoundly  to  be  deplored.  “  I  was  dumb,  and  opened  not 
my  mouth,  because  Thou  didst  it.” 

The  Rev.  Austin  Hazen  Wright  was  born  in  Hartford,  Ver¬ 
mont,  Nov.  11,  1811.  If  any  one  of  you,  like  the  speaker,  had 
crossed  the  Green  Mountains  from  Middlebury,  Vt.,  to  Hano¬ 
ver,  N.  IT.,  by  the  old  stage  route,  leaving  the  former  place  in 
the  afternoon,  threading  the  wild  gorges  and  ravines  of  that 
American  Switzerland  during  the  night,  and  issuing  on  the 
lower  eastern  slope  at  the  White  River  village  in  Hartford,  just 
with  the  rising  sun,  he  might  pronounce  that  one  of  the  most 
charming  localities  on  the  face  of  the  globe  ;  combining  a  sin¬ 
gularly  rich  variety  of  rural  landscape,  of  mountain  heights 
and  cliff,  and  crag,  and  winding  valley  and  velvet  meadows, 
through  which  the  silvery  White  River  hastens  onward  to  pour 
its  limpid  waters  into  the  broader  Connecticut,  gliding  trans¬ 
versely  now  just  before  us.  About  a  mile  south  of  that  vil¬ 
lage,  on  the  road,  leading  thence  to  Windsor,  Dr.  Wright  first 
opened  his  eyes  upon  this  world.  His  parents  dying  when  he 
was  quite  young,  he  met  the  hard  lot  of  an  orphan,  yet  it  was 
rendered  much  less  hard  in  his  case  than  that  of  most  orphans, 
for  he  was  adopted  by  his  excellent  maternal  uncle — the  Rev. 
Austin  Hazen,  the  father  of  our  late  esteemed  associate,  Mrs. 
Stoddard,  and  of  the  Rev.  Allen  Hazen,  missionary  at  Bombay, 
lie  had  thus  one  of  the  best  of  homes  and  best  of  guardians, 
growing  up  in  the  attractive  neighborhood  where  he  was  born, 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN. 


7 


under  tlie  tender  and  careful  watcli  of  tliat  very  estimable  New 
England  pastor.  Our  brother  not  only  bore  the  name  of  that 
maternal  uncle,  but  resembled  him  not  a  little  in  character,  and, 
if  I  mistake  not,  also  in  person.  It  vTas  my  privilege  to  make 
the  acquaintance  of  that  good  man  during  my  first  visit  in 
America,  more  than  twenty  years  ago,  when  he  inquired  of  me 
most  affectionately  for  “  our  dear  brother  Wright,”  as  he  called 
him,  though  he  might  have  said  “  son,”  from  personal  likeness 
as  well  as  from  guardianship.  Dr.  Wright  was  trained  in  his 
childhood  in  the  plain  style  of  Puritan  simplicity  and  frugality, 
the  intelligent  and  intellectual  pastor  of  the  Green  Mountain 
village,  milking  his  own  cow  and  tending  his  horse,  and  his 
filial  ward,  when  old  enough,  rejoicing  to  assist  him  in  those 
and  similar  duties. 

He  was  fitted  for  college  at  the  academy  in  Royalton,  an¬ 
other  mountain  village,  some  ten  or  fifteen  miles  above  his 
home,  on  the  same  romantic  White  River.  Among  his  fellow 
pupils  there  was  Mr.  Chase,  now  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States. 

He  entered  Dartmouth  College,  which  is  but  three  or  four 
miles  from  his  birth-place,  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  being  the 
youngest  scholar  in  his  class  and  in  the  college  at  that  time. 
Prominent  among  his  class-mates  was  Dr.  A.  D.  Smith,  late 
of  New  York,  and  now  President  of  the  college.  He  was  not 
a  Christian  when  in  college,  and  though  his  good  early  educa¬ 
tion  kept  him  from  many  of  the  temptations  incident  to  his 
situation,  he  has  often  told  me  that  he  wasted  his  time  there, 
being  very  fond  of  play,  “feeling”  thirty  years  afterward,  “  the 
hard  hicks ”  at  foot-ball  of  some  of  his  youthful  companions, 
and  being  too  young  to  prize  and  improve  his  college  advan¬ 
tages.  If  such,  however,  was  the  fact,  his  subsequent  ten  years 
of  teaching  and  theological  and  medical  study  must  have  gone 
very  far  to  redeem  his  lost  time  in  college,  and  render  him  the 
accomplished  scholar  we  have  known  him. 

We  recall  the  event  of  a  powerful  revival  in  Dartmouth  Col¬ 
lege  in  1820,  when  he  was  connected  with  it,  in  which  he  was 
more  or  less  interested,  and  was  the  subject  of  much  prayerful 
interest  on  the  part  of  others.  He  has  more  than  once  men- 


8 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN". 


tioned  to  me  a  trifling  incident  in  tliat  connection.  His  cousin, 
the  Rev.  Ira  Tracy,  from  the  same  Hartford,  Vt.,  for  some  time 
a  missionary  to  China,  who  was  a  year  his  senior  in  college,  on 
visiting  his  room  for  religions  conversation  with  him,  took  down 
from  its  shelf  his  Bible,  and  carefully  blowing  the  dust  from 
its  cover,  thus  delicately  conveyed  a  gentle  admonition,  which 
was  a  nail  fastened  in  a  sure  place. 

Graduating  at  Dartmouth  College  in  1830,  he  soon  wrent  to 
Virginia,  and  engaged  in  teaching  more  or  less  in  a  female 
seminary,  and  he  remained  in  that  State  nearly  ten  years,  up 
to  the  period  of  his  embarking  in  the  missionary  work,  that 
was  to  him  not  only  a  land  of  promise  but  also  rich  in  blessings. 
There  he  found  the  pearl  of  great  price.  There  he  pursued  his 
theological  course  in  the  excellent  Union  Seminary  at  Prince 
Edward.  And  there  he  studied  medicine  in  the  very  ably  offi¬ 
cered  University  of  Virginia,  at  Charlottesville.  His  recollec¬ 
tions  of  his  Southern  sojourn  were  always  most  grateful.  His 
associate  in  teaching  there,  for  a  period,  now  a  professor  in 
Dartmouth  College,  once  playfully  said  of  him  that  the  only 
peril  which  Dr.  Wright  encountered  in  Virginia  was  that  of  a 
handsome  young  Northerner  amid  the  hospitalities  and  amenities 
of  Southern  society.  He,  however,  passed  that  ordeal  un¬ 
harmed — only  refined. 

Having  thoroughly  *  completed  his  preparations  for  his  life 
work,  he  was  ordained  and  returned  to  the  North  and  took 
leave  of  his  friends,  and  sailing  at  Boston,  in  March,  1840,  he 
reached  Oroomiah  on  the  25tli  of  the  following  July.  He  came 
to  us  quite  alone ,  having  no  missionary  companion  either  on  the 
ocean  or  on  the  land.  He  met  his  noble,  heroic  predecessor, 
Dr.  Grant,  at  Ezroom,  who  had  then  just  emerged  from  his  stir¬ 
ring  adventures  in  Ivoordistan,  and  was  on  his  wray  to  visit 
America.  With  characteristic  modesty,  our  brother  wrote  to 
us  from  that  city  that  he  could  never  fill  the  place  of  that  re¬ 
markable  man.  With  the  same  unpretending  modesty,  in  the 
matter  of  equipage,  he  surrendered  himself  on  the  roacl  to  his 
native  guides  and  muleteers,  without  the  comfort  of  even  a 
tent,  to  be  brought  to  Oroomiah  in  a  caravan  of  merchandise 
at  their  slow  and  capricious  rates  of  travel,  and  was  so  long  a 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN. 


9 


time  on  the  way  as  to  give  ns  no  little  solicitude  before  bis 
arrival. 

About  three  years  after  lie  reached  Oroomiah,  it  was  my 
privilege  to  introduce  to  his  acquaintance  Miss  Catharine  A. 
Myers,  who  came  out  with  us  after  our  first  visit  to  America,  in 
company  with  Miss  Fiske,  as  a  teacher,  a  lady  every  way 
worthy  of  his  heart  and  his  hand,  whom,  just  a  year  from  the 
day  of  their  first  meeting,  I  united  to  him  in  marriage,  in  a 
room  in  my  dwelling  adjoining  the  one  in  which  he  expired — 
where  we  watched  him  so  anxiously  during  his  last  sickness, 
and  whence  the  angels  conveyed  his  freed  spirit  to  its  mansion 
in  heaven.  In  proportion  as  that  conjugal  union  was  one  of  the 
unspeakable  blessings  and  untold  happiness  to  both  of  them, 
must,  of  course,  be  the  poignancy  of  that  bitter  grief  which  will 
pierce  her  stricken,  desolate  heart,  when  the  sorrowful  tidings 
now  winging  their  way  to  her  shall  reach  her  and  clothe  her 
in  sackcloth. 

The  beloved  physician , 

The  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved . 

It  is  fitting  that  we  glance  somewhat  particularly  at  the 
character  and  life  of  our  brother,  thus  summarily  indicated  in 
these  texts,  which  we  may  conveniently  do  by  contemplating 
him  as  a  man,  as  a  scholar ,  as  a  Christian ,  and  as  a  missionary. 

I.  Viewed  as  a  man,  it  is  quite  superfluous  to  say  here  that 
Dr.  Wright’s  natural  talents  were  of  a  high  order,  and  that  the 
powers  and  faculties  of  his  mind  were  finely  balanced.  And 
no  one  acquainted  with  him  could  doubt  that  he  was  also  natu¬ 
rally  one  of  the  most  gentle  and  amiable  of  mortals.  In  him, 
however,  these  traits  were  positive  ;  far  enough  from  that  list¬ 
less  negation  of  character  which  they  are  supposed  sometimes 
to  import.  His  views  and  opinions  were  always  clear  and  well 
defined  ;  decidedly,  yet  modestly  and  courteously  maintained, 
and  firmly  defended  if  occasion  required. 

There  was  a  completeness  in  his  character  which  we  seldom 
behold  in  a  human  being,  and  which,  in  proportion  to  its  rare 
symmetry,  we  find  it  difficult  to  describe  in  the  absence  of 
those  salient  points  of  more  imperfect  men,  just  as  we  find  it 
more  difficult  to  delineate  a  smooth  sphere,  or  a  level  prairie, 


10 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN. 


than  a  rugged  surface  or  a  variated  landscape.  How  much,  lie 
was  indebted  to  natural  traits,  and  how  much  to  educating  and 
forming  influences  from  without  for  such  singular  perfection  of 
character,  it  is  of  course  not  easy  to  determine.  Our  impres¬ 
sion  is  that  he  wTas  much  indebted  to  both.  Born  and  reared 
under  the  shadow  of  the  Green  Mountains,  whose  very  atmos¬ 
phere  inspires  the  stern  and  noble  impulses  of  virtue,  of  Puri¬ 
tan  pedigree,  and  under  the  strict  religious  training  of  a  Hew 
England  pastor,  and  there  shaped  to  the  straight  lines  and 
right  angles  of  a  Hew  England  college  curriculum ,  we  may 
conceive  of  him  at  his  graduation  as  an  approved  sample  of 
a  Horthern  young  gentleman  a  generation  ago,  of  good  public 
education  and  stainless  morals,  but  lacking  somewhat  the  ease 
and  polish  which  were  then  less  common  in  that  latitude  than 
in  more  Southern  sections  of  our  country,  and  which  subse¬ 
quently  he  so  largely  possessed. 

At  that  still  forming  age,  of  nineteen  or  twenty,  he  is  sud¬ 
denly  transferred  to  Richmond  as  a  teacher,  where  he  is  cor¬ 
dially  welcomed  to  the  best  circles — the  Christian  elite  of  that 
refined  metropolis  of  the  Old  Dominion,  moving  freely  in  its 
elegant  and  excellent  society  for  several  years.  Feeling  the 
warmth  of  those  ardent  and  generous  temperaments,  where,  to 
use  his  own  expression,  the  tables  groaned  under  the  weight  of 
their  hospitality,  and  receiving  the  strong  impress  of  their  un¬ 
rivaled  social  accomplishments,  his  character,  as  if  cast  into  an 
alembic,  was  fused,  and  in  a  measure  re-cry  stalked  to  the 
finest  models;  yet  all  this  without  losing  an  iota  of  the  sterling 
straightforwardness  of  his  Horthern  birthright.  Such  I  believe, 
in  general,  to  have  been  the  process  in  the  formation  of  his 
character  as  a  man,  combining  obviously  very  peculiar  advan¬ 
tages,  and  producing  results  which  we  have  all  so  much  and  so 
justly  admired. 

His  accomplished  manners  thus  acquired,  which  however  had 
nothing  of  mannerism ,  contributed  largely  to  fit  him  to  fill  so 
successfully,  without  the  slightest  affectation  or  embarrassment, 
every  condition  and  every  sphere  to  which  duty  subsequently 
called  him.  He  vTas  perfectly  at  home  alike  with  the  haughty 
Persian  Moollah,  the  self-complaisant  Prince,  or  the  European 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN. 


11 


Ambassador.  By  all  he  was  recognized  as  a  man  of  rich  and 
varied  culture,  of  unpretending  bearing — though  always  of  as¬ 
sured  self-possession,  and  of  artless,  unsophisticated  urbanity, 
combined  with  rare  discrimination  and  unswerving  integrity. 

Among  the  poor  and  uneducated  on  the  other  hand,  such  was 
the  overflowing  kindness  of  his  heart,  that  he  had  not  even  to 
condescend  to  men  of  low  estate  to  mingle  with  them,  for  he  was 
one  with  them  in  feeling ;  and  from  the  transparency  of  his 
character,  seen  to  be  such,  he  at  once  won  their  confidence  and 
affection.  None,  high  or  low,  could  ever  doubt  his  disposition 
to  treat  them  kindly  and  do  them  good  to  the  utmost  extent 
in  his  power.  Thus  was  he  truly  “  a  man  greatly  beloved.” 

Possessing  such  a  character  as  a  man,  I  hardly  need  state 
that  we  have  found  him  a  very  social  and  most  agreeable  com¬ 
panion,  always  acting  on  the  apostolic  injunction,  u  Be  cour¬ 
teous  nay,  more,  very  tender  and  considerate  of  the  feelings 
of  all  others,  hardly  ever  uttering  an  unadvised  word,  even 
under  provocation,  remarkably  unselfish,  unsuspecting,  and 
pure-minded,  eminently  a  j peace-maker ,  yet  equally  truthful  and 
honest,  and  always  unwearied  in  his  exertions  to  serve,  to  cheer, 
to  comfort  and  to  bless  every  member  of  our  community,  old 
or  young. 

Were  we  to  attempt  to  gauge  this  beloved  man  in  the  rela¬ 
tions  of  a  husband  and  a  father,  we  should  find  his  heart  a 
great  deep,  altogether  unfathomable.  Never  probably  did  any 
man  ever  cherish  a  more  yearning  tenderness  towards  his  wife 
and  children,  nor  more  uniformly  and  evenly  exemplify  it,  with 
fewer  ripples  of  feeling,  by  any  disturbance  of  that  great  deep 
of  affection.  Often,  in  years  subsequent  to  his  marriage,  has 
he  expressed  to  me  his  gratitude  for  having  been  instrumental 
in  bringing  to  Persia  such  a  boon  as  that  loving  and  faithful 
wife ;  an  expression,  however,  to  which  I  might  deem  myself 
little  entitled,  when  I  recall  how  much  more  God  did,  than 
any  human  instrument,  in  the  arrangement  and  consummation 
of  their  union. 

It  can  hardly  be  considered  a  defect,  but  rather  a  necessary 
consequence  of  a  mental  and  moral  constitution  so  tender  as 
that  of  Dr.  Wright,  that  he  did  not  prominently  possess  some 


12 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN. 


of  the  sterner  elements  of  manhood,  which  come  in  useful 
requisition  in  battling  the  hard  conflicts  of  life,  nor,  least  of  all, 
on  missionary  ground.  I  recall  that  about  four  years  after  he 
reached  our  field,  on  being  appointed  with  another  of  our  num¬ 
ber  to  visit  Tehran,  if  possible,  to  prevent  the  execution  of  the 
scheme  of  the  French  Jesuits,  united  with  malevolent  Persian 
officials,  to  break  up  our  mission  and  effect  our  expulsion  from 
the  country,  the  appointment  affected  him  to  tears,  while  he 
touchingly  begged  to  be  excused  from  accepting  it,  remarking 
that  he  was  born  a  man  of  peace  and  not  of  war.  Not  that 
he  shrank  from  the  physical  exposures  of  a  horseback  journey, 
in  winter,  of  more  than  a  thousand  miles  both  ways ;  but  his 
modest  timidity  and  sensitive  spirit  did  shrink  from  the  moral 
encounters  which  the  enterprise  involved.  Unwelcome  as  was 
that  undertaking  to  the  speaker,  I  felt  a  peculiar  satisfaction 
in  relieving  him  of  it. 

As,  however,  his  experience  increased,  and  his  character  was 
disciplined  and  strengthened  under  the  hard  pressure  of  accu¬ 
mulated  missionary  duties  and  burdens,  a  pressure  admirably 
fitted,  if  improved,  to  make  the  most  of  men,  he  long  ago 
developed  capabilities,  not  only  for  passive  endurance,  but  also 
for  active  interference  in  most  trying  emergencies,  unsurpassed 
by  those  of  any  other  man  ever  connected  with  the  mission, 
and  which  have  been  much  oftener  and  much  longer  laid 
under  contribution  ;  and  sometimes  he  has  displayed  a  hero¬ 
ism,  in  such  emergencies,  bordering  on  the  sublime.  When, 
for  instance,  Mar  Shimon,  the  late  patriarch,  was  running 
his  violent  career  of  persecution  at  Oroomiah,  and  his  ruffian 
satellites  had  beaten  Mar  Yoliaunan  and  some  others,  on  our 
mission  premises,  and  he  furiously  threatened  beating  our  per¬ 
sonal  servants  if  they  did  not  summarily  leave  us,  Dr.  Wright, 
in  his  calm,  meek  dignity,  waited  on  the  patriarch  and  offered 
an  earnest  remonstrance,  winding  it  up,  with  his  hand  raised 
in  protestation,  and  the  significant  declaration,  “  Mar  Shimon, 
if  you  touch  my  servant  you  touch  me  !”  Under  the  majesty 
of  this  impressive  rebuke  from  outraged  meekness  and  gentle¬ 
ness,  the  haughty  patriarch  succumbed. 

At  a  scene  occurring  about  the  same  time,  in  the  court  of 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN. 


13 


tlie  chief  Moollah,  of  Oroomiah,  thronged  a  mob  of  excited 
Nestorians,  the  tools  of  Mar  Shimon,  who  threatened  to  stone 
ns — an  ordeal  to  try  men’s  souls — his  calm,  firm  self-possession, 
when  acting  as  our  spokesman,  is  also  well  remembered. 

II.  The  scholarship  of  Dr.  Wright  was  rather  solid  and 
finished  than  brilliant  or  showy.  As  already  suggested,  if  his 
self-accusations  that  he  wasted  his  time  in  college  had  founda¬ 
tion,  his  subsequent  industry  and  success,  during  his  ten  years 
residence  in  Virginia,  must  have  redeemed  that  loss ;  for  he 
came  to  us,  at  the  age  of  twenty-nine,  a  ripe  general  scholar. 
The  very  completeness  of  his  scholarship,  as  was  true  of  his 
character  as  a  man,  presented  few  salient  points  to  attract  obser¬ 
vation.  His  judgment  was  so  careful  and  accurate,  and  his 
taste  so  well  disciplined  and  chaste,  that  he  almost  never  com¬ 
mitted  a  noticeable  fault  in  writing.  Indeed,  in  this  matter, 
we  may  easily  conceive  him,  as  already  hinted,  strongly  to 
have  resembled  u  the  beloved  physician,”  who,  with  such 
classic  elegance  and  graphic  force,  penned  the  third  Gospel  and 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  If  his  mind  was  not  massive,  it  did 
not  lack  in  compass  ;  and  if  his  imagination  was  not  its  pre¬ 
dominant  faculty,  the  working  of  his  intellect  was  far  enough 
removed  from  tameness  or  servility.  If  it  had  not  the  rapid, 
sweeping  impetuosity  of  the  wind,  it  had  the  richer  attributes 
of  the  deep,  placid  river,  moving  steadily  onward  in  its  wonted 
course,  often  gently  overflowing,  and  silently  fertilizing  and 
adorning  its  shores.  His  style  as  a  writer  was  beautifully 
perspicuous,  concise  and  simple,  and  at  the  same  time  forcible. 
The  British  Embassy  to  Persia  was  at  Ezroom  when  he  first 
came  to  this  country.  During  the  few  weeks  he  was  detained 
there,  the  members  of  the  embassy  were  among  his  auditors 
on  the  Sabbath.  One  of  them  wrote  thus  to  the  speaker,  in 
remarking  complimentarily  of  our  prospective  fellow-laborer ; 
he  said,  “  His  sermons  have  been  very  much  admired  by  our 
party  here yet  that  party  may  be  presumed  to  have  been 
not  the  most  lenient  of  critics  on  such  subjects.  As  beautiful 
specimens  of  his  admirable  style,  marked  not  only  by  his  char¬ 
acteristic  conciseness  and  perspicuity,  but  also  by  deep  and 
touching  pathos,  we  may  mention  his  funeral  sermon  occasioned 


14 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN. 


by  the  death  of  the  first  Mr.  Rhea  ;  also,  his  sketch  of  the 
revival  here  in  1849,  which  is  published  in  the  little  volume 
entitled  “  Missionary  Life  in  Persia.”  That  his  style  pos¬ 
sessed  much  force,  though  devoid  of  all  pretentious  rhetoric, 
we  have  had  many  proofs.  One  occurs  to  me,  in  an  appeal 
which  he  addressed  to  the  Prudential  Committee,  in  behalf  of 
the  mission,  for  publishing  the  Peshito  version  of  the  Old 
Testament  in  parallel  columns  with  our  translation  from  the 
Hebrew.  There  had  been  a  previous  decision  against  the 
measure,  but,  under  the  force  of  the  appeal,  that  decision  was 
reversed.  It  was  well  said  of  that  document  by  one  of  our 
number  when  it  was  forwarded,  that  the  subject  was  argued 
with  the  clearness  and  the  ability  of  a  lawyer. 

"We  might  dwell,  were  it  necessary,  on  the  rare  beauty,  ease 
and  interest  of  Dr.  Wright’s  epistolary  style.  All  unstudied 
as  it  was,  yet  that  it  could  hardly  be  improved  must  have  been 
patent  to  us  all. 

On  his  arrival  here  he  put  in  immediate  requisition  his  fine 
scholarship,  by  giving  himself  to  the  acquisition  of  the  lan¬ 
guages  of  the  country,  the  Ancient  and  Modern  Syriac  (the 
former  he  had  studied,  to  some  extent,  while  in  the  Theological 
Seminary  in  America),  the  Turkish  and  the  Persian.  Ho  other 
member  of  our  mission  had  ever  made  so  extensive  acquisitions 
in  languages.  He  applied  himself  eagerly  to  the  study  of  them 
during  the  three  or  four  first  years  of  his  missionary  life,  and 
has  ever  since  been  industriously  adding  to  his  knowledge  of 
them,  perseveringly  maintaining  the  habits  and  cultivating 
the  tastes  of  a  growing  scholar,  always  garnering  with  rigid 
economy  the  scraps  of  his  time  and  making  the  most  of  them  ; 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  his  manifold  active  duties,  with  all 
the  nameless  distractions  and  interruptions  involved  in  them, 
have  but  increased  his  use  of  the  languages  they  have  led  him 
to  employ,  and  so  his  acquaintance  with  them.  His  intellect¬ 
ual  tastes  ran  naturally  in  the  line  of  languages  rather  than  of 
the  sciences. 

His  fine  scholarship  has  been  conspicuous,  not  only  in  his 
rapid  and  successful  acquisition  of  languages,  but  also  in 
his  effective  use  of  them.  His  command  of  Syriac  was  very 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN. 


15 


accurate,  free  and  forcible  as  a  preacher.  It  was  equally  so  in 
his  general  intercourse  with  the  Hestorians ;  and  the  same  was 
true  of  his  use  of  the  Turkish  and  Persian  with  the  Moham¬ 
medans. 

All  his  rich  scholarly  acquisitions  have  been  laid  under  no 
less  effective  contribution,  in  connection  with  the  department 
of  our  Mission  Press.  On  the  departure  of  Mr.  Holladay,  twenty 
years  ago.  Dr.  Wright  was  appointed  in  his  stead,  to  be  asso¬ 
ciated  with  me  in  the  literary  labors  of  the  press.  I  well  remem¬ 
ber  his  response  to  the  appointment.  “  I  had  never  supposed,” 
he  said,  “  that  such  labors  would  fall  to  my  lot  on  missionary 
ground ;  I  am  passionately  fond  of  them,  and  only  hope  they 
will  not  tempt  me  to  neglect  other  duties.”  What  an  instructive 
comment  on  these  words  have  been  his  labors  of  the  last  twenty 
years.  He  has  shown  all  that  fondness  for  literary  work  ;  he 
has  not  yielded  to  it  to  the  detriment  of  any  other  missionary 
claims.  How  usefully  has  his  accurate  knowledge  of  Hebrew, 
and  of  the  Ancient  Syriac,  and  of  the  Hew  Testament  Greek 
told  on  his  thorough  revisions  of  the  Holy  Scriptures ;  and  how 
patiently,  perseveringly,  and  successfully  have  his  protracted 
labors  been  performed  in  the  publication  of  our  various  edi¬ 
tions. 

His  scholarship  was  well  adapted  to  the  work  of  a  translator. 
His  clear  discrimination,  his  nice,  delicate  taste  in  the  selection 
of  words  and  phrases,  and  his  admirably  balanced  and  critical 
judgment  on  the  whole  subject  have  been  very  advantageously 
exerted,  not  only  in  his  revisions  of  the  Scriptures,  but  also  on 
several  works  which  he  has  himself  prepared  for  the  press. 

There  are  few  tests  of  accurate  scholarship  more  decisive 
than  the  work  of  proof  YQndmg ;  and  we  have  never  had  his 
equal  in  the  mission  as  a  proof-reader ;  and  no  Hestorian, 
except  Deacon  Joseph,  has  ever  surpassed  him  in  Syriac  proof¬ 
reading.  Oh  how  many  hundreds  of  times  has  his  aching  head 
traced  each  line  and  each  word  of  those  daily  recurring  long 
leader  columns,  carelessly  composed  and  blindly  printed,  from 
which  there  is  no  retreat  nor  respite  for  those  connected  with  a 
press,  of  which,  however,  he  seldom  complained  though  so  often 
wearied. 


16 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN. 


Iiis  neatness  and  precision  as  a  scholar  marked  every  thing 
that  came  from  his  hands,  in  entire  harmony  with  the  same 
general  traits  ever  obvious  in  his  person  and  whole  character. 
His  elegant  chirography  never  yet,  to  my  knowledge,  let  slip  a 
careless  scrawl,  not  even  in  the  briefest  note  or  memorandum. 
And  were  we  to  examine  the  records  of  our  mission,  kept  by 
him  as  its  Secretary  for  twenty  years,  we  should  find  in  them 
ample  proof  of  all  that  I  have  said  of  the  accuracy  and  finish 
of  his  scholarship. 

I  recall  a  testimony,  bearing  on  this  general  subject,  in  con¬ 
nection  with  his  medical  studies  in  Virginia,  which  it  is  in  place 
to  record.  In  a  few  days’  journey  in  Charlottesville,  during 
my  first  visit  to  America,  about  two  years  after  he  attended 
lectures  there,  the  pastor  (Mr.  White)  of  the  place  told  me 
that,  on  leaving,  he  passed  one  of  the  best  medical  examina¬ 
tions  of  any  of  the  students  at  the  University. 

Yes,  truly,  very  rich  were  the  intellectual  as  well  as  the  far 
more  precious  moral  treasures  that  were  buried  with  this 
scholarly  man  ;  nay,  rather,  that  are  transferred,  and  are  now, 
in  their  vast  expansion,  far  more  felicitously  employed  in  our 
Father’s  mansion. 

III.  <c  A  Christian  is  the  highest  style  of  man.”  Much  as 
we  have  seen  to  admire  in  our  departed  brother  as  a  man  and 
as  a  scholar,  how  much,  immeasurably,  does  the  interest  of  his 
character  as  a  Christian  transcend  all  its  other  attributes.  We 
are  not  informed  even  of  the  year  of  his  hopeful  conversion, 
but  believe  that  it  occurred  in  1833  or  1834.  Fie  was  still  at 
Richmond  at  the  time ;  and  amid  all  the  other  strong  attrac¬ 
tions  that  bound  his  heart  to  the  place  while  there,  and  sweet¬ 
ened  the  recollections  of  it  ever  afterward,  his  religious  associa¬ 
tions  with  it  were  always  by  far  the  most  grateful. 

We  might,  perhaps,  have  supposed,  that  one  possessing  so 
much  of  natural  amiability,  and  that,  always  fostered  by  the 
genial  influences  of  the  best  religious  society,  would  hardly  be 
the  subject  of  a  very  marked  change,  even  in  the  momentous 
event  of  conversion.  The  fact,  I  believe,  was  otherwise.  He 
had,  all  his  life,  been  like  the  young  ruler  in  the  gospel,  on 
whom  Jesus  looked  and  loved  him  ;  but  one  thing  he  lacked. 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN. 


IT 


There  was  at  last,  in  liis  case,  a  deep  process  of  what  the  old 
divines  denominate  law  work.  The  thorough  religious  training 
which  he  had  received  in  childhood,  rendered  him  all  the  more 
cautious  and  anxious  to  dig  deep  and  build  his  hopes  for  eter¬ 
nity  on  the  Rock  ;  and  the  remarkable  conscientiousness,  which 
was  ever  so  essential  an  element  of  his  being,  rendered  him, 
perhaps,  too  distrustful  of  the  genuineness  of  those  hopes. 

That  his  consecration  to  Christ  was  most  sincere  and  whole¬ 
hearted,  has  been  evinced  by  all  his  subsequent  life.  We  have 
also  collateral  evidence  to  the  same  effect,  dating  from  that 
period.  With  what  interest  have  we  all,  since  his  death,  in¬ 
spected  his  Bible ,  bearing  date  on  the  fly-leaf,  under  his  name, 
u Richmond ,  1834,”  probably  but  a  short  time  subsequent  to 
the  period  of  his  first  cherishing  the  hope  of  a  Christian.  I 
have  a  hallowed  reverence  for  that  Bible,  as  the  unerring  pilot 
that  has  faithfully  guided  an  often  tempest-tossed  soul  safe  over 
all  life’s  billows  to  the  haven  of  eternal  rest.  Such  Bibles  of 
the  departed  good  are  the  most  sacred  objects  in  this  world. 
The  inspection  of  this  treasure  assures  us  that  our  brother’s 
consecration  was  not  only  thoroughly  heart-work,  but  also  that 
religion  with  him  was,  from  the  outset,  a  matter  of  patient, 
watchful  culture  and  earnest  aspiration  for  progress  in  holi¬ 
ness.  On  its  blank  leaves  are  notes  and  quotations,  so’  signifi¬ 
cant,  as  having  been  the  practical  mottos  of  his  daily  life,  and 
so  strikingly  exemplified  in  the  very  beautiful  development 
and  growth  of  his  Christian  character,  during  the  period  of  a 
generation,  that  they  well  deserve  a  place  in  his  funeral  sermon. 
First  on  the  list,  written  in  his  own  fair  hand,  is  this  :  “  Search 
the  Scriptures  below  it,  u  Be  prayerful “  Be  studious 
and  still  further  down  the  page,  the  memorable  motto  of 
Luther,  “  Bene  orasse  est  bene  studuisse .”  On  the  next  blank 
page,  quoted  in  full,  are  the  following  texts  of  Scripture  : 

“  My  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee ;  for  my  strength  is  made 
perfect  in  weakness.  Most  gladly  therefore  will  I  glory  in  my 
infirmities,  that  the  power  of  Christ  may  rest  upon  me.” — 
2  Cor.  xii.  9. 

“  In  all  thy  ways  acknowledge  him,  and  he  shall  direct  thy 
paths.” — Prov.  iii.  6. 

2 


18 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN. 


“  0  Lord,  I  know  that  the  way  of  man  is  not  in  himself ;  it 
is  not  in  man  that  walketh  to  direct  his  steps.” — Jer.  x.  23. 

On  a  blank  leaf  at  the  beginning  of  the  New  Testament  are 
the  following  quotations  : 

“  What !  know  ye  not  that  your  body  is  the  temple  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  which  is  in  you,  which  ye  have  of  God,  and  ye 
are  not  your  own  ?  For  ye  are  bought  with  a  price  ;  therefore 
glorify  God  in  your  body,  and  in  your  spirit,  which  are  God’s.” 
— 1  Cor.  vi.  19,  20. 

“  Giving  no  offence  in  any  thing,  that  the  ministry  be  not 
blamed.” — 2  Cor.  vi.  3. 

u  Be  thou  faithful  unto  death,  and  I  will  give  thee  a  crown 
of  life.” — Bev.  ii.  10. 

“  And  he  said  unto  me,  Depart ;  for  I  will  send  thee  far 
hence  unto  the  Gentiles.” — Acts  xxii.  21. 

u  Be  clothed  with  humility.” — 1  Peter  v.  5. 

Now  was  there  ever  a  Christian  man,  or  woman,  whose  living 
experience  was  a  more  complete  embodiment  of  this  collection 
of  Scripture  mottoes  than  that  of  our  departed  brother  ?  That 
there  have  been  those  who  have  surpassed  him  in  particular 
Christian  traits,  and  individual  graces,  we  may  not  deny  ;  but 
in  the  symmetrical  combination,  presenting  one  beautiful  whole, 
I  have  never  known  a  superior  model.  And  often,  as  his  char¬ 
acter  now  rises  before  me,  another  passage  of  Paul  occurs  to  me 
as  its  most  faithful  epitome:  “Whatsoever  things  are  true, 
whatsoever  things  are  honest,  whatsoever  things  are  just,  what¬ 
soever  things  are  pure,  whatsoever  things  are  lovely,  whatso¬ 
ever  things  are  of  good  report ;  if  there  be  any  virtue,  and  if 
there  be  any  praise,  think  on  these  things.” 

And  such,  essentially  as  we  have  known  him  here,  was  he 
remembered,  as  a  Christian,  in  Virginia.  I  visited  Bichmond  at 
the  time  above  referred  to,  two  years  after  he  came  to  our  field, 
and  found  his  memory  very  fresh  and  very  fragrant  there  in  the 
two  Presbyterian  churches;  indeed  so  much  so,  that  those 
churches,  then  recently  alienated  by  the  divisive  measures  of 
1837  into  Old  School  and  New,  were  strongly  disposed  to 
rivalry  in  claiming  him,  each  church  as  its  own  beloved  repre¬ 
sentative  on  missionary  ground ;  as  was  true  also  of  Mr.  ITolla- 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN. 


19 


day,  another  “  beloved  disciple”  from  the  same  churches,  whose 
connection  with  our  mission  was  such  an  unspeakable  blessing 
to  us  in  the  early  period  of  its  history. 

Not  long  after  our  brother  became  a  Christian  he  decided  on 
studying  for  the  ministry,  with  direct  reference  to  the  mission¬ 
ary  work.  Going  from  Richmond  to  the  Union  Theological 
Seminary,  he  there  enjoyed  the  best  of  Christian  influences,  as 
well  as  able  and  faithful  theological  instruction.  The  venerable 
Dr.  John  Holt  Rice,  the  father  of  the  Seminary,  and  long  a 
patriarch  among  the  churches  in  Virginia,  and  whose  praise  was 
in  all  the  churches,  both  North  and  South,  had  been  called  to 
his  rest  before  Dr.  Wright’s  connection  with  the  Institution; 
but  his  mantle  had  fallen  on  his  associates  and  successors ;  and 
the  whole  atmosphere  of  Prince  Edward  was  still  redolent  with 
the  savor  of  his  cherished  name.  The  memory  of  Dr.  Rice 
exerted  a  strong  influence  on  our  brother’s  character.  He 
studied  carefully  his  published  biography.  His  was  one  of  the 
few  likenesses  which  he  kept  in  his  study.  He  has  been  in  cor¬ 
respondence  with  the  venerable  widow  of  that  apostolic  man 
during  most  of  his  missionary  life ;  and  pasted  to  a  blank  leaf 
at  the  end  of  his  Bible,  are  a  few  printed  resolutions  of  Dr. 
Rice,  which,  if  he  did  not  adopt  them  as  his  own,  evidently  had 
more  or  less  influence  on  his  character ;  and  as  such  it  is  proper 
that  we  introduce  them  in  this  connection.  They  are  the  follow¬ 
ing,  which  were  found  in  Dr.  Rice’s  pocket-book  after  his  death ; 

u  What  I  resolve  that  I  will  endeavor  to  do. 

“  1st.  Take  food  for  nourishment  and  not  for  pleasure.  Take 
no  more  than  is  necessary,  and  be  indifferent  to  the  quality. 
Sleep  for  refreshment  and  not  for  indulgence.  Harden  and 
subdue  my  flesh  by  labor  directed  to  useful  purposes.  Endeavor 
to  do  as  much  useful  work  every  day  as  I  can.  Dress  as  cheaply 
as  comports  with  decency. 

“  2d.  To  use  all  my  property  for  benevolent  purposes.  Pay 
every  thing  I  owe  as  soon  as  possible.  Save  all  that  I  can,  by 
simplicity  of  living,  and  by  practicing  self-denial,  and  give  all 
I  can,  in  the  exercise  of  sound  discretion,  to  objects  of  benevo¬ 
lence.  Never  spare  name,  property  or  reputation,  if  I  can  do 
good.  Necessary  that  I  die  poor. 


20 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN. 


“  3d.  As  to  my  disposition  and  conduct  toward  others  :  1.  En¬ 
deavor  to  feel  kindly  to  every  one.  Never  indulge  anger, 
malice,  envy  or  jealousy  toward  any  human  being.  2.  En¬ 
deavor  to  speak  to  and  about  every  one  as  I  ought,  aiming  in 
all  things  that  I  say  to  promote  the  comfort,  improvement  and 
happiness  of  every  one.  3.  Endeavor  to  act  as  to  advance,  (1.) 
the  present  comfort,  (2.)  the  intellectual  improvement,  (3.)  the 
purity  and  highest  good  of  all  my  fellow-men. 

“  As  to  my  Creator :  To  endeavor  to  fix  in  my  mind  more 
deeply  all  truth  that  I  can  possibly  discover  respecting  Him,  and 
to  feel,  think  and  act,  in  every  respect,  in  correspondence  with 
that  truth.  Finally,  when  I  have  done  all,  to  acknowledge  that 
I  am  nothing,  and  my  Creator  has  a  right  to  do  with  me  as 
seems  good  to  Him.” 

We  can  hardly  mistake  the  image  and  superscription  of  a 
portion,  at  least,  of  these  resolutions  instamped  on  Dr.  Wright’s 
life  and  character. 

But  the  grand  model  that  filled  his  eye  and  his  heart  was  of 
no  earthly  mould.  It  was  the  blessed  Saviour.  He  habitually 
looked  unto  Jesus.-  The  first  sermon  that  he  preached,  the  Sab¬ 
bath  after  his  arrival  here,  was  from  the  text,  “We  would  see 
Jesus;”  in  which  he  touchingly  portrayed  the  Saviour  in  the 
various  attributes  that  render  Him  the  perfect  model  for  the 
believer’s  imitation.  That  sermon  was  a  very  fitting  introduc¬ 
tion  for  him  to  our  mission — an  unquestioned  passport  to  all  our 
hearts,  nor  less  the  index  of  the  character,  the  aspirations,  the 
study  and  the  purposes  of  its  author,  which  were  self-abnegation 
and  self-sacrifice,  and  a  living  conformity  to  Christ  in  all  things. 
Not  that  there  was  any  leaven  or  aceticism  in  him ;  but  there 
was  an  habitual,  ardent  longing  to  have  Christ  formed  in  him 
the  hope  of  glory,  and  to  be  rapidly  transformed  into  that  glo¬ 
rious  image.  Here  is  the  secret  of  the  remarkable  resemblance 
in  the  servant  to  the  Master,  which  we  have  witnessed  especially 
in  the  last  months  of  his  life ;  a  likeness  that  renders  so  appro¬ 
priate  to  him  the  application  of  the  language  of  our  text — “  the 
disciple  whom  Jesus  loved.”  As  John  was  the  special  object 
of  the  Saviour’s  affection,  from  the  large  measure  of  his  own 
moral  limitude  which  he  saw  in  that  disciple,  so  we  believe 


THE  BELOVED  PHVSICIAN. 


21 


was  eminently  the  case  of  our  departed  brother — u  a  disciple 
whom  Jesus  loved.” 

There  can  hardly  be  occasion,  in  this  connection,  to  attempt 
a  particular  analysis  of  Dr.  Wright’s  religious  character.  Its 
essential  elements  may  be  readily  inferred  from  the  general  com¬ 
pleteness  of  it,  and  its  likeness  to  the  model  of  the  Master  which 
I  have  indicated.  It  may,  however,  be  well  to  repeat  the  sug¬ 
gestion,  that  his  progress  in  grace  was  much  the  result  of  pray¬ 
erful  and  careful  self-culture  and  strenuous  exertion.  He  seldom 
had  flights  of  rapture.  Calm,  abiding  peace  he  did  enjoy;  but 
as  a  rule,  his  pathway  to  heaven  lay  through  the  valley  of  hu¬ 
miliation.  He  much  oftener  saw  Jesus,  and  held  sweet  com¬ 
munion  with  him  there  than  on  the  mount  of  transfiguration. 
His  constitutional  modesty  and  self-diffidence  did  not  always 
allow  him  to  speak  with  the  strongest  assurance  of  his  own  good 
estate.  Sometimes,  in  referring  to  himself,  he  would  put  his 
case  contingently — “If  I  was  ever  born  again,”  etc. — more, 
however,  from  his  habitual  self-distrust,  I  apprehend,  than  from 
any  very  serious  doubts  on  that  point.  His  deep  sense  of  per¬ 
sonal  unworthiness,  with  his  vivid  impressions  of  the  exceeding 
enormity  of  sin;  his  jealous  watchfulness  over  his  own  heart; 
and  the  unwonted  tenderness  and  sensitiveness  of  his  conscience, 
all  tended  to  foster  that  distrust  of  himself ;  yet  not  to  an  extent 
that  greatly  disturbed  his  simple  child-like  faith  and  confidence 
in  Christ,  and  his  deep  and  ardent  affection  for  him  ;  but  which 
rather  drove  him  right  to  the  Cross  as  his  refuge,  there,  like  the 
beloved  disciple,  often  to  lean  on  Jesus’  bosom.  His  physical 
ailments  were  sometimes  depressing  to  his  spirits,  particularly 
his  periodical  headaches ,  which  were  rather  frequent  and  quite 
severe.^  and  while  upon  him,  they  sometimes  led  him  to  sigh 
for  the  rest  that  remaineth  to  the  people  of  God.  The  heavy 
burdens  and  trials  of  missionaiy  life  often  prompted  the  same 
longings;  though  as  a  rule  he  wTas  a  happy  Christian  pilgrim, 
firmly  trusting,  if  not  always  rejoicing,  in  the  Lord.  As  he 
caught  more  and  more  distinct  glimpses  of  “  the  shining  shore,” 
particular  hymns,  pointing  to  his  rest  and  inheritance  there, 
became  his  special  favorites.  One  such  is  the  following,  which, 


22 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN. 


sacredly  to  embalm  it  with  his  memory,  we  will  sing  in  this 
connection : 

“AND  THE  CITY  HATH  NO  NEED  OF  THE  SUN.” 

* 

1.  Ye  golden  lamps  of  heaven,  farewell, 

With  all  your  feeble  light ; 

Farewell  thou  ever-changing  moon, 

Pale  empress  of  the  night. 

• 

2.  And  thou,  refulgent  orb  of  day, 

In  brighter  flames  arrayed, 

My  soul,  that  springs  beyond  thy  sphere, 

No  more  demands  thine  aid. 

3.  Ye  stars  are  but  the  shining  dust 

Of  my  divine  abode ; 

The  pavement  of  those  heavenly  courts 
Where  I  shall  reign  with  God. 

4.  The  Father  of  eternal  light 

Shall  there  his  beams  display  ; 

Nor  shall  one  moment’s  darkness  mix 
With  that  unvaried  day. 

5.  No  more  the  drops  of  piercing  grief 

Shall  swell  into  my  eyes ;  j 

Nor  the  meridian  sun  decline 
Amid  those  brighter  skies. 

6.  There  all  the  millions  of  the  saints 

Shall  in  one  song  unite  ; 

And  each  the  bliss  of  all  shall  view 
With  infinite  delight. 

IY.  It  might  seem  almost  like  sacrilege  to  connect  with  the 
heavenly  savor  that  clusters  around  our  brother’s  memory  as  a 
Christian  any  separate  notices  of  his  missionary  life  and  labors, 
did  not  that  savor  so  richly  pervade  them  all.  In  turn,  the 
Christian  was  never  lost  in  the  missionary,  nor  the  missionary  in 
the  Christian,  but  the  two,  almost  from  the  hour  of  his  conver¬ 
sion,  were  indissolubly  blended.  As  I  have  already  stated,  he 
decided  on  studying  for  the  ministry,  at  the  commencement  of 
his  Christian  course,  with  distinct  reference  to  the  missionary 
work. 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN. 


23 


He  was  introduced  to  our  field  through  Mr.  Holladay,  that 
man  of  God  of  eminent  ability  and  most  lovely  Christian  char¬ 
acter,  whom  he  had  known  while  a  theological  student.  Mr. 
H.  was  then  in  Hamden,  Sydney  College,  located  at  Prince 
Edward,  where  he  was  a  professor  several  years  previous  to  his 
coming  to  Peoria.  They  were  kindred  spirits,  and  their  hearts 
knit  together  like  those  of  David  and  Jonathan. 

During  the  year,  after  the  departure  of  Dr.  Grant  from  Oroo- 
miah  to  the  mountains  of  Koordistan,  we  awaited  anxiously  Dr. 
Wright’s  arrival,  being  without  a  physician.  He  came  to  us  in 
affliction.  He  left  his  only  sister  in  America  far  gone  of  con¬ 
sumption,  and  the  first  mail  after  his  arrival  here  brought  the 
tidings  of  her  death.  Though  the  intelligence  was  not  unex¬ 
pected,  its  actual  reception  deeply  affected  him.  A  sense  of 
orphanage  and  loneliness,  such  as  he  had  never  before  felt,  came 
over  him,  now  that  the  last  cord  was  severed,  and  he  had  litei 
ally  neither  father  nor  mother,  brother  nor  sister,  in  this  world 
We  were  assembled  in  a  garden  for  a  social  hour  when  the  mes 
senger  came ;  and  I  well  remember  how  his  hand  trembled 
and  the  tears  flowed,  as  he  opened  the  letter ;  and  how  tenderly 
this  sore  bereavement  bound  him  to  the  hearts  of  our  own  circle, 
and  then  freshly  bleeding  from  the  recent  wounds  caused  by 
the  death  of  five  children  in  the  mission  within  the  period  of 
two  months. 

He  came  to  us  as  Paul  came  to  the  Corinthians,  “  in  weak¬ 
ness,  and  in  fear,  and  in  much  trembling deeply  feeling,  from 
his  brief  acquaintance  with  his  predecessor  at  Ezrooin,  “  what 
can  the  man  do  that  cometli  after  the  king?”  Dr.  Grant’s  com¬ 
manding  person  and  mien,  which  so  admirably  fitted  him  for  a 
pioneer,  and  would  have  graced  his  namesake,  the  Lieutenant- 
General,  on  the  field,  and  his  distinguished  ability  and  adven¬ 
turous  exploits  as  a  physician  and  surgeon,  had  made  a  profound 
impression  on  the  Persians,  who  are  wont  to  attach  so  much 
importance  to  personal  presence.  And  not  many  days  after 
Dr.  Wright’s  arrival  here,  an  older  associate,  impressed  with  the 
singular  modesty  and  meekness  of  his  bearing,  and  somewhat 
concerned  lest  the  interests  of  the  mission  should  suffer  by  un¬ 
favorable  comparisons  between  him  and  Dr.  Grant,  waited  on 


24 : 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN. 


him  in  his  room,  and  held  a  long  conversation  with  him  on  the 
importance  of  his  assuming  some  airs  of  assurance  and  conse¬ 
quence.  While  our  brother  gratefully  thanked  his  kind  asso¬ 
ciate,  and  was  but  too  ready  to  account  himself  a  novice  in  new 
circumstances,  needing  fraternal  counsel,  still  his  own  good 
judgment  forbade  David  to  attempt  to  assume  the  armor  of 
Saul,  more  confident  in  the  sling  and  smooth  pebbles  from  the 
brook.  He  could  not  affect  gifts  which  he  did  not  possess,  and 
wisely  chose  rather  by  the  quiet,  unpretending  use  of  qualities 
and  endowments  which  God  had  vouchsafed  to  him  (though 
his  own  estimate  of  them  was  always  too  humble),  to  trust  for 
the  influence  which  they  would  naturally  and  legitimately  com¬ 
mand.  And  with  what  admiration  did  all  behold  him,  almost 
from  the  day  of  his  arrival,  steadily,  yet  surely,  winning  the 
hearts  and  gaining  the  confidence  of  all  classes  of  men,  by  the 
simple  power  of  goodness,  until  long  ago  he  had  acquired  a 
respect  and  esteem  in  this  country,  such  as  no  other  foreigner 
here,  missionary  or  official,  ever  possessed. 

It  w^as  a  favoring  providence  that  at  the  time  of  Dr.  Wright’s 
arrival  in  Persia,  that  very  interesting  man,  Prince  Malek  Ka* 
liem  Meerza,  was  Governor  of  Oroomiah.  Becoming  strongly 
attached  to  the  Doctor  on  his  first  acquaintance  with  him,  his 
own  rare  intelligence  and  discrimination  appreciating  such  cul¬ 
ture  and  such  worth,  he  lost  no  opportunity  to  strengthen  and 
encourage  him,  and  thus  did  much  to  give  him  the  high  posi¬ 
tion  in  the  general  estimation  which  his  own  well  attested 
merits  ever  afterwards  maintained. 

Dr.  Wright  came  to  us  with  a  heart  overflowing  with  love  to 
everybody,  and  with  a  strong  disposition  to  be  pleased  with 
every  one  and  every  thing,  wherever  and  so  far  as  it  was  possi¬ 
ble.  lie  evinced  very  little  of  the  hypocritical  spirit  not  un¬ 
common  in  inexperienced  missionaries,  and  which  their  novel 
and  trying  circumstances  are  so  strongly  calculated  to  fan  I 
recall  that  a  day  or  two  after  his  arrival,  in  crossing  the  yard 
he  met  a  small  Nestorian  boy  who  smilingly  saluted  him  in 
English,  “  Goodee  mornin The  unexpected  salutation  almost 
enraptured  him.  And  on  the  first  Sabbath  when  sick  persons 
came  to  our  gate,  which  is  closed  on  that  day,  his  feelings  were 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN. 


25 


deeply  moved  on  learning  the  fact  that  any  suffering  ones  had 
been  sent  away  even  on  the  Sabbath,  though  he  soon  saw  the 
absolute  necessity  of  some  such  restrictions  to  enable  us  in  any 
measure  to  hallow  the  sacred  day.  He  met  all,  of  all  ages  and 
classes,  with  a  smile  which  none  could  mistake  as  the  true  in¬ 
dex  of  a  sunny,  loving  heart.  He  has  never  been  surpassed  in 
this  respect  in  our  mission,  unless  in  the  case  of  the  lamented 
Mr.  Crane,  whom  some  of  the  Nestorians  so  beautifully  and 
expressively  denominated  one  of  God's  lambs.  I  regard  this  ge¬ 
nial  trait  as  one  of  the  most  valuable  elements  of  his  missionary 
character,  and  as  going  very  far  to  account  for  the  wonderful 
ascendency  which  he  soon  acquired  over  all  classes  from  the 
prince  to  the  peasant,  founded  on  his  undisguised  love  for  them, 
and  deep  interest  in  their  welfare  which  could  never  fail  to 
command  a  ready  response  in  bosoms  however  selfish,  or  even 
malevolent.  This  element  of  his  character,  under  all  the  trials, 
perplexities  and  vexations  of  missionary  life,  arising  so  often 
from  the  wickedness  of  unreasonable  men,  continued  unim¬ 
paired  to  the  last,  nay,  was  constantly  strengthened  ;  and  I  may 
add  that  it  contributed  immeasurably  to  strengthen  and  sus¬ 
tain  him.  It  savoured  much  of  the  charity  that  never  failetli . 
Some  present  may  recall  that  in  a  social  prayer-meeting  which 
I  conducted  but  a  few  weeks  before  his  death,  I  deplored  the 
remissness  of  some  of  the  Hestorian  communicants,  to  which  he 
replied  in  remarks  in  the  same  meeting,  with  his  accustomed 
gentleness  and  tenderness,  u  When  we  think  of  their  very  hard 
lot  and  sore  trials,  it  seems  to  me  that  they  do  quite  as  well  as 
we  should  in  their  circumstances.”  I  trust  we  shall  profit  by 
that  timely  hint  from  a  heart  ever  beating  so  warmly  with  the 
impulses  of  that  love  which  liopeth  all  things. 

Dr.  Wright,  though  he  came  to  us  both  as  a  physician  and  a 
preacher,  had  a  strong  preference  for  the  latter  profession. 
Much  as  his  feeling  heart  yearned  over  the  bodies  of  men,  it 
yearned  still  more  tenderly  over  their  perishing  immortal  souls. 

Dr.  Grant  had  been  a  practicing  physician  in  America  before 
he  became  a  missionary,  but  when  appointed  to  this  field  he 
raised  the  question  of  pursuing  a  short  course  of  theological 
study  and  being  ordained.  Being,  however,  hurried  to  his  post 


26 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN. 


by  the  exigencies  of  the  mission,  he  postponed  that  matter  with 
the  hope  of  studying  privately  here  and  being  ordained  on  the 
ground*  But  the  great  field  of  usefulness  that  opened  at  once 
before  him  as  a  medical  man,  and  the  ample  opportunities  he 
enjoyed  for  religious  labors  in  connection  with  that  profession, 
led  him  afterwards  to  change  his  views  on  the  whole  subject, 
and  adopt  the  belief  that  lie  could  do  more  for  the  cause  of 
Christ  simply  under  the  name  of  a  physician  than  by  becoming 
a  clergyman. 

Soon  after  Dr.  Wright’s  arrival  I  mentioned  to  him  his  prede¬ 
cessor’s  opinions  on  this  subject,  and  suggested  the  possible  ex¬ 
pediency  of  his  being  known  here  'primarily  as  a  physician 
rather  than  a  preacher.  It  touched  a  very  tender  point.  That 
he  might  preach  Christ  had  been  the  burden  of  the  prayers  of  a 
long  since  departed  mother  in  his  infancy,  and  the  same  had 
been  the  object  of  his  fondest  hopes  and  most  earnest  aspira¬ 
tions  ever  since  he  felt  the  power  of  a  Saviour’s  love.  No  one 
who  has  witnessed  his  labors  can  doubt  the  wisdom  of  his 
choice. 

As  we  remarked  on  his  resemblance  to  “  the  disciple  whom 
Jesus  loved,”  in  his  character  as  a  Christian,  we  might  perhaps 
draw  an  analogy  between  him  and  ‘‘the  beloved  physician,”  in 
his  missionary  relations.  Luke  was  doubtless  a  preacher  as  well 
as  a  medical  practitioner  in  his  companionship  with  the  apos¬ 
tles;  and  he  too  combined  with  those  offices  the  accomplish¬ 
ments  of  a  finished  scholar  and  author.  But  in  the  case  of  Dr. 
Wright,  as  a  missionary,  we  must  add  yet  another  department 
to  all  the  functions  exercised  by  the  evangelist,  that  of  the  rep¬ 
resentative  of  the  mission  before  the  authorities  of  the  country, 
and  the  succoring  daysman  of  the  Nestorians,  to  stand  between 
them  and  their  oppressive  masters  and  rulers.  In  this  “  four¬ 
fold  state,”  if  we  may  thus  apply  the  expression,  he  has  sus¬ 
tained  burdens  and  performed  labors  altogether  unparalleled  by 
those  of  any  other  individual  ever  connected  with  the  mission, 
at  least  for  any  considerable  time.  Most  truly  might  he,  with 
Paul,  have  said,  “I  labored  more  abundantly  than  they  all;” 
however  little  inclined  himself  ever  to  make  such  an  intima¬ 
tion,  or  even  to  entertain  the  idea.  And  added  to  all  these  de- 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN. 


27 


partments  of  liis  stated  labors,  his  arduous  preaching  tours  in 
Ivoordistan,  in  which  we  might  enumerate  “  perils  oft,57  as  he 
has  visited  almost  every  Hestorian  district,  have  been  about  as 
numerous  as  those  of  any  of  his  brethren.  With  a  single  ex¬ 
ception  Dr.  Wright  has  been  a  missionary  much  longer  than  any 
other  man  ever  here — twenty-five  years — and  the  wonder  is,  that 
under  such  an  accumulation  of  toils  and  cares,  not  that  he  has 
sunk  under  the  pressure  at  the  end  of  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
but  that  he  lived  half  that  period.  He  was  a  strong  man,  physi¬ 
cally  ;  not  of  the  robust  type.  He  was  decidedly  slender,  never 
weighing  much  if  any  more  than  one  hundred  and  twenty 
pounds,  though  of  medium  height ;  but  he  was  of  that  compact, 
wiry  stamp,  which  rendered  him  capable  of  vigorous  exertion 
and  vast  endurance.  In  our  mountain  journeys  no  one  of  us  has 
ever  been  able  to  scale  the  lofty  heights,  and  thread  the  doubtful 
parapets  along  the  faces  of  the  cliffs  with  less  exhaustion.  His 
health  was  almost  uniform  with  the  exception  of  his  periodical 
headaches.  He  had  never  had  a  severe  course  of  fever  before 
the  one  of  which  he  died. 

The  greatest  earthly  blessing  vouchsafed  to  him  on  missionary 
ground,  and  which  goes  far  to  explain  his  endurance  so  long,  was 
his  devoted  wife,  of  which  he  never  was  insensible,  nor  slow  to 
acknowledge  his  great  obligation  to  her,  and  to  God  on  her  ac¬ 
count.  And  under  the  crushing  sorrows  of  our  sister’s  bereave¬ 
ment  she  may  have  the  sweet  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  she 
has  comforted,  cheered,  sustained  and  strengthened  this  dear 
servant  of  God  for  a  score  of  years,  to  an  extent  that  no  lan¬ 
guage  can  describe,  added  vastly  to  his  usefulness,  and  probably 
doubled  the  years  of  his  missionary  service. 

We  need  not  attempt  fully  to  describe  the  multiplied  and  ar¬ 
duous  labors  of  Dr.  Wright  in  the  various  departments  which  he 
filled,  yet  we  should  briefly  refer  to  them.  His  labors  as  a 
preacher  were  as  numerous,  or  nearly  so,  as  those  of  any  of  his 
brethren.  This,  as  we  have  said,  was  his  chosen  calling ,  nor  did  he 
fail  to  magnify  it.  As  he  ardently  loved  the  gospel,  so  he  loved 
to  proclaim  it.  His  discourses  were  always  well  prepared,  able 
and  interesting,  and  often  very  impressive.  He  inclined  more 
to  preach  on  themes  connected  with  Christ,  as  a  loving,  forgiv- 


28 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN. 


ing  Saviour,  than  on  the  threatenings  of  the  law,  though  by  no 
means  to  the  exclusion  of  the  latter.  His  tender  spirit  wTas 
much  more  at  home  at  the  foot  of  Calvary  than  of  Sinai,  and 
thither  he  essayed  to  lead  all  others,  most  affectionately  pointing 
them  to  the  Lamb  of  God  that  taketh  awav  the  sins  of  the  world. 
In  some  instances,  however,  we  have  heard  from  him  sermons 
of  a  most  searching,  alarming  character.  Some  of  us  will  never 
forget  the  effect  of  his  sermon  on  a  seared  conscience ,  first 
preached  in  1850,  when  the  place  of  the  assembly  became  lite¬ 
rally  a  Bochim ,  all  seeming  to  feel  the  gnawing  of  the  worm  that 
“  dieth  not.”  That  sermon  he  preached  again  a  short  time  be¬ 
fore  his  death,  and  under  the  influence  of  it  a  poor  woman  soon 
hastened  to  him  to  disclose  an  act  of  fraud  which  she  had  long 
denied,  and  would  intrust  the  secret  to  no  other  ear,  though  she 
had  long  and  earnestly  been  pressed  to  do  so.  With  his  excel¬ 
lent  knowledge,  and  ready  and  effective  command  of  the  Hesto- 
rian  language,  and  thoroughly  furnished  as  he  was  in  his  gene¬ 
ral  ministerial  qualifications,  he  was  a  workman  that  needed 
not  to  be  ashamed  ;  and  though  not  so  emphatically  a  son  of 
thunder  as  was  our  departed  associate,  Mr.  Stocking,  he  was  emi¬ 
nently  a  son  of  consolation.  Yes,  “  an  eloquent  man  and 
mighty  in  the  Scriptures.” 

Though  the  'work  of  the  minister  was  first  in  importance  in 
his  estimation,  his  medical  profession  was  by  no  means  neglected. 
He  daily  received  crowds  of  patients  of  all  classes  at  a  given 
hour  at  his  dispensary,  and  he  hardly  ever  declined  a  call  near 
or  distant,  in  any  state  of  the  weather  or  at  any  hour,  whether 
among  Hestorians  or  Mohammedans ;  and  never  shrunk  from 
exposure  to  the  most  fearful  and  malignant  diseases.  To  say 
nothing  of  his  practice  in  relieving  untold  numbers  in  their 
physical  ailments,  the  moral  influence  of  it  was  incalculable  in 
subduing  prejudice,  winning  confidence,  and  holding  up  a  liv¬ 
ing  exponent  of  a  gospel  that  is  good  will  to  all  men,  and  often 
the  only  key  that  would  unlock  the  bolted  heart  to  the  Balm  of 
Gilead,  and  the  healing  of  the  Physician  there. 

The  first  object  of  connecting  a  medical  man  with  a  mission  so 
isolated  and  remote  from  Europeans  as  ours,  was,  of  course,  the 
relief  of  the  mission  families.  And  how  faithful  has  Dr.  Wright 

u 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN-. 


29 


ever  shown  liimself  in  this  sphere.  How  constant  and  un¬ 
wearied  in  his  attendance  on  our  sick  ;  how  careful  and  anxious 
in  prescribing  and  wTatching;  and  how  brotherly  and  sympa¬ 
thetic  with  the  sick,  the  afflicted  and  the  bereaved.  The  inten¬ 
sity  of  his  solicitude  has,  in  some  instances,  proved  almost  over¬ 
powering  to  him.  Such  was  the  fact  in  the  last  sickness  of  Mr. 
Stoddard,  that  seraphic  man,  whose  life  seemed  to  us  all  so  un¬ 
speakably  important  to  the  cause  of  Christ  in  Persia.  He  wTas 
himself  made  sick  by  the  trying  experience  of  that  beloved  as¬ 
sociate’s  death-bed. 

In  our  own  crushing  affliction,  in  the  death  of  our  Judith,  of 
cholera,  in  a  desolate  tent  by  the  road-side,  his  sympathetic  na¬ 
ture  wTas  most  tenderly  drawn  out.  When  he  met  us  at  Gava- 
lau,  on  our  return  with  the  corpse,  on  my  mentioning  to  him  that 
Judith  in  her  sufferings  once  said,  “I  wish  Dr.  Wright  was 
here,”  the  tears  bursting  from  his  eyes,  he  responded,  “  Dear 
child  ;  would  that  I  might  have  been  by  her.”  And  not  long 
afterward,  in  alluding  to  his  sorrowful  ride  to  Gavalau  in  a  note, 
he  said,  “  When  about  six  miles  from  the  city,  wre  saw  a  footman 
coming  at  a  rapid  speed.  On  meeting  us  he  stopped  and  took 
from  his  girdle  your  letter  from  Yavshauly.  I  dismounted, 
took  the  letter,  opened  it  with  a  trembling  hand,  and  read  it 
aloud.  Our  hopes  were  all  dashed  to  the  ground.  The  dear  one 
was  no  more.  There,  by  the  road-side,  we  stopped  and  wept.” 

But  in  proportion  as  his  sympathies  thus  wTelled  up  from  the 
deep  fountains  of  his  feeling  soul,  must  have  been  the  severity 
of  the  contributions  thus  levied  on  his  strength  and  his  life  ; 
and  not  only  in  our  mission  circle  but  measurably  also  abroad 
among  the  people.  His  medical  practice,  taking  into  account 
its  moral  drafts  on  such  a  nature,  has  always  been  by  far  the 
most  tasking  part  of  his  duties.  Yet  wTe  never  saw  in  him  a 
disposition  to  waive  its  calls  and  responsibilities.  With  what 
alacrity  has  he  hastened  over  the  seventy  miles  horse-back  ride 
to  Gawar,  scarcely  halting  on  the  wTay  to  eat  or  sleep,  wdien  sum¬ 
moned  to  our  brethren  and  sisters  there ;  particularly  in  the 
last  sickness  of  Mr.  Crane  and  Mrs.  Rhea ;  and  wdiat  an  angel 
of  mercy  was  he  on  such  occasions  to  the  afflicted  station  in  the 
mountains.  Verily  he  was  a  u  beloved  physician.” 


30 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN. 


Dr.  "Wright’s  labors  in  the  department  of  the  press  have  been 
mentioned  in  our  reference  to  his  scholarship.  His  rare  quali¬ 
fications  for  such  work  were  well  attested  in  the  publication  of 
.the  beautiful  pocket  edition  of  the  Hew  Testament,  in  Syriac 
during  his  visit  in  America.  And  since  his  recent  return, 
how  eagerly  and  ably,  almost  with  the  enthusiasm  of  youth, 
did  he  commence  operations  for  entering  upon  the  great  work 
of  translating  the  Scriptures  into  the  Tartar  Turkish ;  a  lan¬ 
guage  spoken  by  so  many  millions  of  people  who  have  never 
yet  had  the  Bible.  How  he  has  been  able  to  carry  on  this 
collateral  branch  of  labor,  during  twenty  years  of  his  life,  with 
the  constant  and  heavy  burdens  of  his  other  departments,  is  a 
problem  which  any  man  less  scholarly,  less  systematic,  and  less 
industrious  and  economical  of  time,  wTould  have  found  it  impos¬ 
sible  to  solve. 

Our  brother’s  duties  as  the  representative  of  the  mission  in 
its  relations  to  “  the  powers  that  be,”  and  as  a  shield  for  the 
poor  Nestorians  under  their  nameless  and  grinding  oppressions, 
abuses  and  outrages,  were  the  most  delicate,  and  often,  by  far, 
the  most  difficult  and  perplexing  that  he  had  to  perform.  His 
medical  practice  was  a  ready  passport  for  him  to  all  classes  of 
the  Mohammedans,  and  his  bland  demeanor,  and  unquestion¬ 
able  integrity,  as  we  have  said,  soon  won  for  him  very  general 
confidence  and  high  esteem.  This  has  been  a  capital  of  untold 
value  to  the  mission,  living  and  laboring  here  as  we  do,  the  only 
Americans  in  this  Mohammedan  empire,  protected,  or  rather 
tolerated,  solely  by  courtesy  on  the  part  of  those  who  cannot 
be  supposed  to  have  any  sympathy  with  the  Christian  religion, 
but  the  reverse.  Such  has  been  the  profound  respect  cherished 
by  the  proud,  dominant  class  toward  our  physician,  that  not 
onlv  have  the  civil  authorities  almost  never  refused  to  grant 
any  favor  which  he  has  requested  of  them  (while  he  has  wisely 
not  presumed  a  step  too  far),  but  the  bigoted  Moollahs,  self- 
prompted,  were  accustomed  to  send  to  him  the  poor  Hestorian 
girls,  who  had  been  seized  by  ruffians,  with  the  purpose  of  com¬ 
pelling  them  to  profess  themselves  Mohammedans,  that,  with¬ 
out  fear,  they  might  declare  in  his  presence  which  religion 
they  preferred  ;  and  that  declaration  was  accepted  as  decisive. 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN. 


31 


And  hundreds,  if  not  thousands,  of  deeply  suffering  Nestorians, 
both  men  and  women,  ground  down  to  the  dust  by  their  lordly 
oppressors,  have  been  relieved,  often  rescued  from  the  lash,  by 
his  gentle  and  discreet  interference,  through  appeals  to  those 
oppressors  or  to  their  superiors. 

Nor  have  the  wronged  Nestorians  alone  felt  the  benefit  of  his 
succoring  influence.  The  suffering  poor  among  the  Moham¬ 
medans  have  also  often  sought  and  found  in  him  a  sympathiz¬ 
ing  friend.  None  of  us  can  forget  an  instance,  when  tidings 
came  to  him  that  a  poor  Koord  was  about  to  be  beheaded,  in 
the  court  of  the  prince,  on  very  unjustifiable  grounds.  He  was 
sitting  at  his  dinner-table,  and  bounding  instantly  to  his  feet  he 
ran  to  the  appalling  scene,  but  wTas  a  few  moments  too  late  to 
interpose  a  petition,  arriving  only  in  time  to  behold  the  slaugh¬ 
tered  man  weltering  in  his  gore. 

The  burdens  and  perplexities  imposed  on  him  by  his  mission¬ 
ary  and  providential  relations,  in  numberless  applications  for 
succor,  from  day  to  day,  and  week  to  week,  and  year  to  year, 
in  this  land  of  darkness,  cruelty  and  blood,  were  a  ’weight  for 
the  shoulders  of  a  Hercules,  and  we  marvel  that  they  did  not 
long  ago  crush  that  sensitive  spirit  and  apparently  fragile 
form. 

In  detailing  Hr.  Wright’s  multifarious  labors  as  a  missionary, 
we  should  not  omit  to  mention  the  fact,  that  for  two  years  pre¬ 
vious  to  Miss  Fiske’s  arrival  lie  was  the  superintendent  of  the 
female  seminary,  then  only  a  day-school — the  present  seminary 
in  embryo — not  imposing  a  serious  tax  of  strength  or  of  time, 
but  pleasantly  connecting  his  memory  with  an  enterprise  which 
has  long  since  grown  to  be  one  of  so  much  importance,  fraught 
with  unspeakable  blessings,  in  whose  prosperity  he  ever  took  a 
very  deep  interest,  and  in  which  some  of  his  last  labors  were 
performed.  After  his  return  from  America,  he  conducted 
morning  worship  in  the  school,  to  the  great  gratification  and 
relief  of  our  over-burdened  sister  who  has  charge  of  it,  and  the 
deep  interest  of  the  pupils  ;  and  to  his  last  prayers  and  appeals 
there,  instrumentally,  sent  home  by  the  affecting  providence  of 
his  death,  we  believe,  is  much  owing  the  precious  revival  now 
in  progress  in  that  seminary. 


32 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN. 


As  physician,  Dr.  Wright  found  it  far  more  difficult  to  leave 
his  post  for  rest  than  any  other  member  of  the  mission  ;  and 
for  twenty  years  he  had  not  the  respite  of  a  single  month. 
At  the  close  of  eighteen  years  he  passed  through  the  severe 
ordeal  of  sending  his  two  eldest  daughters  to  America — a  sore 
trial  to  so  tender  a  parent’s  heart ;  and  not  long  afterward,  he 
was,  for  the  first  time,  bereaved  of  a  beloved  child. 

Two  years  after  the  departure  of  his  daughters,  in  July,  1860, 
he  found  his  health  so  much  impaired  that  he  was  compelled 
to  abandon  the  field  for  a  time,  a  measure  to  which  the  Pruden¬ 
tial  Committee  had  repeatedly  invited  him,  but  which  he  was 
very  reluctant  to  adopt,  while  it  involved  leaving  the  mission 
without  medical  service.  His  return  to  America  in  his  feeble 
health  was  a  period  of  great  suffering.  In  his  last  sickness  he 
told  me  that  he  was  so  ill,  much  of  the  time  on  the  land  jour¬ 
ney,  that  it  was  with  much  difficulty  he  could  mount  his  horse 
in  the  morning,  and  he  seriously  feared  that  he  must  lay  his 
...  /  <?  bones  between  E^coom  and  Hebizond. 

With  all  the  refreshment  of  spirit,  and  the  inexpressible 
delights  of  meeting  dear  friends  in  America,  and  amid  all  their 
overflowing  kindness,  his  was  still,  more  or  less,  the  hard  lot  of 
a  returned  missionary,  floating  with  a  family  without  a  settled 
home — a  situation  that  proves  one  of  the  severest  trials  in  the 
world  to  many  a  heart  far  less  sensitive  than  that  of  our  de¬ 
parted  brother. 

Change  of  climate  and  scene,  however,  did  much  for  him, 
and  in  the  course  of  several  months  he  became  able  to  speak 
in  public  ;  and  very  seldom  has  the  American  Board  sent  forth 
among  the  churches  a  messenger  who  has  exerted  a  more  de¬ 
sirable  influence.  His  whole  appearance  impressed  all  who 
saw  him,  as  that  of  a  man  of  God — a  “  disciple  whom  Jesus 
loved.”  I  was  not  surprised  to  be  thus  accosted  by  the  wife  of 
one  of  the  Secretaries  of  the  Board,  soon  after  his  arrival  in 
America  :  “  What  do  you  do  to  your  missionaries  at  Oroomiah  ? 
First,  we  had  Mr.  Stoddard  with  us,  that  angelic  man  ;  then 
came  Miss  Fiske,  possessing  the  same  spirit;  and  now  Dr. 
Wright,  the  same.”  Personal  acquaintance  with  others  of  our 
departed  associates,  I  hardly  need  say,  would  have  led  her  to 
extend  the  list  in  the  same  strain. 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN. 


33 


Oar  brother’s  addresses  in  America,  like  himself,  were  full  of 
tenderness  and  earnest  pathos,  and  not  void  of  power,  while  in 
simple  narrations,  with  an  nnction  peculiarly  his  own,  he  testi¬ 
fied  the  things  which  he  had  seen,  and  heard,  anti  felt.  His 
public  services  might,  in  general,  be  characterized  by  a  refer¬ 
ence  to  them  made  by  one  of  the  Secretaries  of  the  Board,  who 
labored  with  him  for  a  season  in  Central  New  York.  Said  he  : 
“  Our  meeting  in  A - -  at  first  seemed  very  cold  and  unprom¬ 

ising  ;  but  Dr.  Wright  smote  the  rock  and  the  waters  gushed 
forth,  and  we  had  a  most  interesting  season.” 

After  active  labors  among  the  churches  for  nearly  two  years, 
it  was  a  grateful  change  to  him  to  sit  down  to  the  important 
literary  work  of  publishing  the  pocket  edition  of  the  New 
Testament  in  Modern  Syriac,  already  mentioned,  in  which  the 
Nestorians  may  well  rejoice  as  his  last  rich  legacy  to  them. 

While  penning  this  discourse,  the  query  often  revolved  in  my 
mind  where  I  should  most  appropriately  note  the  faults  of  our 
brother’s  character,  as  I  would  endeavor  to  present  a  fair,  im¬ 
partial  portrait.  I  must  confess  that  I  have  found  neither  the 
place  nor  the  faults  to  record  ;  not  that  he  was  perfect,  until  he 
reached  and  entered  the  gate  of  heaven — how  would  the  inti¬ 
mation  that  he  was  such  have  agonized  him  till  his  last  breath  ! 
Most  appropriate  to  him  would  have  been  the  language  of 
Paul :  u  Not  as  though  I  had  already  attained,  either  were 
already  perfect  ;  but  I  follow  after  ;  ”  “  forgetting  those 

things  which  are  behind,  and  reaching  forth  unto  those  things 
which  are  before,  I  press  toward  the  mark,  for  the  prize  of  the 
high  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus.”  His  faults  that  were 
palpable,  not  only  leaned  strongly  u  to  virtue’s  side,”  but  were 
in  general  themselves  virtues  in  excess.  To  illustrate  our 
meaning.  On  his.  once  submitting  a  manuscript  sermon  to  me 
for  perusal,  which  he  had  been  requested  to  send  to  America 
for  publication,  I  called  his  attention  to  the  naked  “  A.  IT. 
Wright,”  on  the  title-page,  and  suggested  that  he  make  it 
Rev.  A.  H.  Wright,  M.  D.  But  no  argument  of  mine  could 
induce  him  to  place  any  thing  before  or  after  his  own  name  ;  it 
was  a  moral  impossibility  for  him  to  do  so  ;  and  he,  but  reluc¬ 
tantly,  yielded  his  assent  that  I  make  the  proposed  modifica- 
3 


34 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN. 


tion  in  my  own  hand,  though  it  wras  simply  applying  titles 
universally  attached  to  his  professions,  that  really  involved 
not  the  leasjt  delicacy.  And  so  of  his  other  traits.  We  might 
pronounce  them  of  too  fine  a  texture  to  breast  the  rude  storms 
of  this  dark,  cold  world — I  would  not  say  effectively  and  suc¬ 
cessfully,  for  we  have  seen  the  reverse  to  be  eminently  true  of 
him;  but  not  without  subjecting  their  possessor  to  a  kind  of 
living  martyrdom  ;  a  temperament  and  character  far  better 
fitted  by  nature,  as  well  as  by  grace,  for  sunny  celestial  climes, 
than  the  hard  buffetings  which  even  the  most  favored  human 
voyager  must  encounter  on  life’s  tempestuous  ocean  ;  qualities 
which  endeared  him  only  the  more  lovely  while  he  was  with 
us,  and  now  the  more  at  home  in  the  holy  society  of  heaven. 

An  old  writer  compares  fault-finders  to  flies  that  will  creep 
eagerly  all  over  a  sound  body,  meeting  nothing  to  their  tastes, 
in  search  of  some  insignificant  sore.  We  might  justly  fear 
incurring  the  charge  of  that  cynical  propensity,  if  disposed  to 
sit  as  a  critic  on  such  a  character. 

During  his  nearly  four  years’  sojourn  in  America,  usefully  as 
he  was  employed  there,  his  heart  was  in  the  distant  land  of  his 
missionary  adoption,  with  the  people  to  whom  he  had  given  his 
life’s  vigor  and  toils.  The  relinquishment  of  the  hope  of  re¬ 
turning  to  his  field  would  have  cost  him  well  nigh  a  death 
struggle.  The  difficulties  that  embarrassed  the  question,  in 
connection  with  arranging  for  his  family,  weighed  heavily  on 
his  spirits,  as  his  letters  to  us  often  testified.  At  length  light 
and  hope  broke  upon  his  path.  A  door  was  opened  by  the 
Master’s  hand,  but  one  involving  a  sacrifice  that  would  demon, 
strate,  as  nothing  else  could,  his  readiness  to  lay  all  on  the 
altar  of  consecration — even  to  be  separated  from  his  beloved 
wife  and  children  by  half  the  circumference  of  the  globe.  An 
affectionate  daughter,  keenly  sensitive  to  the  sufferings  of  her 
father,  volunteered  to  leave  her  school  and  accompany  him,  to. 
care  for  him  and  comfort  him,  and  in  the  hope  of  being  useful 
in  the  land  of  her  birth  in  our  female  seminary.  The  arrange¬ 
ment  was  consummated.  Little  did  any  one  dream  that  the 
sacrifice  which  he  then  so  cheerfully  made — that  silent  rending 
of  heart-strings — which  nothing  short  of  dying  daily  can  ade- 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN. 


35 


cjuately  describe,  was  shortening  and  lightening  the  remaining 
span  of  his  pathway  to  heaven.  He  left  America  June  18, 
1864.  Ilis  return  was  rendered  pleasant,  and  even  delightful, 
by  the  presence  and  assiduities  of  that  devoted  daughter  and 
the  cheer  of  kind  missionary  companions.  The  party  reached 
us  on  the  29th  of  September,  to  our  unspeakable  joy,  and  the 
great  joy  of  the  Hestorians  and  thousands  of  the  Mohamme¬ 
dans.  What  a  relief  did  we  all  feel  that  our  “  beloved  physi- 
sician”  was  again  at  his  post,  after  being  so  long  deprived  of 
medical  services,  to  say  nothing  of  the  value  and  comfort  of  his 
presence  in  other  relations.  Alas  !  how  suddenly,  as  in  a  mo¬ 
ment,  is  that  joy  turned  to  mourning  ! 

Ho  one  could  mistake  the  mellowing  effect,  on  his  chastened 
spirit,  of  the  sore  struggle  through  which  he  had  passed,  in  being 
separated  from  his  family.  His  whole  appearance  savored  far 
less  of  earth  than  of  heaven.  His  face  shone  like  that  of 
Moses  when  he  came  down  from  the  Mount,  though,  like 
Moses,  he  “  wist  not”  that  it  thus  shone.  Affliction  had  brought 
him  nearer  than  ever  before,  not  to  Sinai,  but  to  Calvary ;  into 
closer  and  more  hallowed  communion  with  u  the  Man  of  Sor¬ 
rows Idjs  religious  services  breathed  much  of  the  atmos¬ 
phere  of  Jerusalem  above.  Love  gushed  forth  in  every  act 
and  every  work.  A  serenity,  more  angelic  than  human, 
lighted  his  countenance  and  sweetened  his  tones.  It  is  not 
strange  that  he  evinced  such  power  to  draw  together  Hestorian 
Christian  brethren  who  had  been  long  and  sadly  alienated  from 
each  other,  leading  them  and  binding  them  together  as  by  a 
single  hair ,  as  a  native  graphically  expressed  it,  under  the 
heavenly  magnetism  of  his  own  benignant  look,  and  throbbing, 
loving  heart.  As  I  now  look  back  and  recall  his  walk  among 
us  during  the  three  short  months  after  his  return  till  his  death, 
I  almost  marvel,  that  in  apprehension  of  his  soon  rising,  we 
did  not  lay  hold  on  the  skirts  of  his  garments!  But  we 
might  not  detain  an  angel ! 

On  the  23d  of  December  he  came  to  Mount  Seir,  as  he  and 
the  rest  of  us  supposed,  perfectly  well.  But  he  came,  as  Moses 
ascended  Pisgah,  to  die .  His  work  was  done,  and  well  done. 
His  last  great  sacrifice,  little  short  of  that  of  Abraham’s  offering 


36 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN. 


Isaac,  bad  been  made  and  accepted.  “Well  done,  good  and 
faithful  servant,  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord,”  was  now 
to  be  bis  summons. 

Providentially  detained  at  Seir  for  the  night,  he  was  taken 
sick  that  evening,  and  was  never  afterward  able  to  return  to 
bis  home.  It  was  matter  of  gratitude  to  God  with  him,  as  be 
repeatedly  said,  in  the  early  part  of  bis  sickness,  that  be  was 
sick  at  my  bouse,  where  it  is  so  much  more  quiet  than  at  bis 
bouse  in  the  city  ;  and  I  hardly  need  say  that  I  account  it  as 
one  of  the  special  boons  of  my  life  that  I  was  thus  permitted 
to  be  with  him  in  bis  last  sickness,  and  that  my  own  dormitory 
should  be  hallowed  as  the  gate  of  heaven  to  bis  departing 
spirit. 

The  day  after  be  was  taken  ill,  I  bad  pleasant  conversation 
with  him,  though  be  was  even  then  much  prostrated  by  the 
power  of  the  disease,  which  was  nervous,  typhoid  fever,  that 
angel  of  death  to  so  many  missionaries.  I  sat  in  the  room  with 
him  preparing  a  sermon  in  Syriac  to  preach  the  next  day, 
from  the  text,  “How  old  art  thou  ?”  with  reference  to  the  close 
of  the  year.  After  preaching  it  the  next  morning,  I  mentioned 
to  him  that  I  had  suggested  in  my  sermon  that  for  each  breath 
we  owe  a  grateful  recognition  of  mercy,  as  God  gives  us  the 
power  to  draw  each  breath.  He  replied :  “  The  Persian  poet 
Sadi  says,  that  we  owe  two  thanksgivings  for  each  breath — for 
the  inspiration  and  the  expiration.” 

He  early  expressed  to  me  the  belief  that  his  disease  was 
typhoid  fever,  and  took  medicine  accordingly ;  but  preferred 
to  say  little  about  it,  lest  it  should  distress  his  daughter.  On 
the  second  day  of  his  sickness  he  once  said,  “  I  feel  as  though 
poison  was  running  through  all  my  veins.”  I  said,  “You  have, 
however,  no  such  apprehension”  (an  idea  and  a  practice  so  com¬ 
mon  in  this  wicked  country).  “  Oh,  no,”  he  replied  ;  “  I  only 
refer  to  the  effluvia  of  that  house  which  I  visited  after  coming 
to  Seir,  where  four  persons  are  sick  of  typhoid  fever.”  He  had 
visited  many  others  sick  of  that  disease  during  the  previous 
weeks,  and  this  last  exposure  could  probably  have  been  no 
more  than  the  occasion  of  suddenly  developing  the  malady 
already  at  work  in  his  system.  On  the  fifth  day  of  his  sickness, 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN. 


37 


Mr.  Labaree,  who  knows  something  of  medicine,  visited  him, 
and  staid  with  him  afterwards  till  his  death,  to  his  great  gratifi¬ 
cation. 

His  disease  was  so  overpowering  that  he  did  not  incline  to 
converse  much  after  the  few  first  days.  He  was  a  meek,  patient 
sufferer,  though  so  much  a  sufferer  that  he  often  groaned 
audibly.  We,  of  course,  needed  no  death-bed  testimony  after 
such  a  life.  He  had  daily  borne  a  clear  witness  for  Christ  for 
thirty  years.  On  the  evening  of  the  eighth  day  of  his  sickness, 
wdien  I  was  alone  with  him,  he  said,  “  I  have  never  before  had 
such  a  fever,  and  had  not  thought  I  should  ever  have  typhoid 
fever.  My  sufferings  have  been  intense  in  my  separation  from 
my  family.”  I  said,  “  Do  you  think  those  sufferings  induced 
your  disease  ?”  He  replied,  “  I  do  not  know  ;  sometimes  I  now 
think  so ;  but  of  late,  for  several  weeks,  I  have  been  much 
more  comfortable.”  He  soon  added,  “  My  mind  is  becoming 
confused,  and  I  know  not  how  it  will  be  ;  if  I  should  not 
recover,  I  would  like  Mrs.  Wright  to  know  how  keen  have 
been  my  sufferings  while  separated  from  her.”  This  was  his 
only  dying  message  ;  and  the  point  he  had  in  mind  in  it  was, 
that  his  beloved  wife  might  have  an  expression  of  the  strength 
of  his  affection  for  her  when  far  away,  and  as  it  proved,  stand¬ 
ing  on  the  brink  of  eternity. 

On  the  night  of  the  ninth  day  of  his  sickness  he  became 
delirious,  and  continued  so  till  his  death,  which  occurred  on 
Wednesday,  January  4,  the  twelfth  day  after  his  attack.  It  is 
grateful  to  know  that,  in  all  his  delirious  wanderings,  he  uttered 
not  a  single  word  to  be  regretted.  Much  of  the  time  he  was 
preaching,  exhorting,  or  conversing  in  Syriac.  When  spoken 
to  by  us  he  was  characteristically  gentle,  and  even  courteous, 
to  the  last.  The  presence  of  Lucy,  his  daughter,  usually  re¬ 
called  him  to  partial  consciousness  ;  with  yearning  tenderness 
he  sometimes  beckoned  her  near  to  receive  a  dying  father’s 
kiss,  and  her  affectionate  tones, ^  calling  father ,  were  the  last 
that  he  recognized. 

During  the  last  two  days  he  was  unquiet  most  of  the  time  ; 
his  nervous  system,  which  was  the  principal  seat  of  his  disease 
being  greatly  affected.  A  few  moments  before  his  death  a 


38 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN. 


sudden  change  came  over  him ;  his  features  became  perfectly 
placid,  as  though  fanned  by  the  wings  of  hovering  angels  ;  al¬ 
most  a  smile  lighted  up  his  beaming  countenance,  seeming  to 
say,  “  0  death,  where  is  thy  sting  ?”  And  he  thus  gently 
breathed  out  his  life — u  the  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved” — 
leaning  on  His  bosom,  at  the  age  of  fifty-three  years  and  not 
quite  two  months. 

One  of  his  missionary  brethren  commended  the  departing 
spirit  to  the- arms  of  the  Saviour,  in  his  last  moments,  as  we 
kneeled  around  his  bed  ;  after  which  others  repeated  the  stanzas  : 

“  Vital  spark  of  heavenly  flame, 

Quit,  0  quit  this  mortal  frame  ; 

Trembling,  hoping,  lingering,  flying, 

Oh  the  pain,  the  bliss  of  dying.” 

And, 

“  How  blest  the  righteous  when  he  dies  ; 

When  sinks  a  weary  soul  to  rest, 

How  mildly  beam  the  closing  eyes, 

How  gently  heaves  the  expiring  breast.” 

While  we  all  deeply  felt  that  the  chamber  where  the  good 
man  meets  his  fate  is  privileged  beyond  the.  common  walks  of 
virtuous  life — quite  on  the  verge  of  heaven. 

On  the  following  day,  January  5,  funeral  services  were  per¬ 
formed  at  Seir,  by  his  atfiicted  missionary  associates,  both  in 
English  and  in  Syriac,  and  u  devout”  Nestorians  u  carried  him 
to  his  burial,  and  made  great  lamentation  over  him.”  He  was 
buried  on  our  Mount  Zion ,  amid  a  large  concourse  of  weepers, 
by  the  side  of  his  infant  son,  bearing  his  own  name,  and  near 
the  graves  of  his  fellow-laborers  66  gone  before” — Stoddard, 
Breath  and  Thompson,  and  the  Sweet  Persian  Flower  and 
other  children  of  like  precious  memories.  Nature’s  snowy 
winding-sheet  glistening  over  all  the  visible  creation,  save  on  the 
azure  bosom  of  the  peaceful  lake,  seemed  but  the  pure  emblem 
of  that  body  at  the  resurrection,  raised  in  incorruption,  arrayed 
in  the  spotless  robes  of  a  Saviour’s  righteousness,  and  of  the 
freed  spirit  already  walking  in  white  among  them  that  are 
worthy. 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN. 


39 


“  Servant  of  God,  well  done  ! 

Rest  from  thy  loved  employ  ; 

The  battle  fought,  the  victory  won, 

Enter  thy  Master’s  joy. 

“The  pains  of  death  are  past, 

Labor  and  sorrow  cease  ; 

And  life’s  long  warfare  closed  at  last, 

His  soul  is  found  in  peace. 

“  Soldier  of  Christ,  well  done  ! 

Praise  be  thy  new  employ  ; 

And  while  eternal-ages  run, 

Rest  in  the  Saviour’s  joy.” 

As  lie  was  a  man  greatly  beloved  in  life,  so  is  be  correspond¬ 
ingly  lamented  in  deatli.  Deep  and  universal  is  tlie  grief 
among  the  Nestorians,  and  very  extensive  the  sorrow  among 
the  Mohammedans.  As  his  body  was  being  lowered  into  the 
grave,  one  of  the  most  godly  of  the  JSTestorians  who  partici¬ 
pated  in  the  service,  touchingly  soliloquized,  “  The  Doctor  is 
dead,  and  the  Nestorians  die  with  him  a  remark  which,  with 
hardly  the  abatement  of  an  Oriental  figure,  evinces  the  pro¬ 
foundness  of  the  sorrow  with  which  his  loss  is  deplored. 

A  most  tenderly  affecting  circumstance  connected  with  his 
removal  is  the  presence  of  his  stricken  daughter,  far  from  her 
kindred,  who  made  such  sacrifices  to  accompany  him  to  Persia. 
Dear  orphan  child  !  You  will  never  regret  that  you  did  so.  It 
was  well  worth  all  those  sacrifices  to  have  been  such  a  comfort 
to  the  bleeding  heart  of  such  a  father,  and  especially  to  have 
been  at  his  side  in  his  last  sickness.  You  need  not  be  told  how 
our  hearts  yearn  for  you  in  your  crushing  bereavement.  We  * 
commend  you  to  that  sympathizing  Saviour  who  is  touched 
with  every  feeling  of  your  sorrows.  Ho  where  except  at  your 
own  mother’s  side  could  you  have  such  sympathy  as  encircles 
you  here,  not  only  in  our  mission,  but  also  from  hundreds  and 
thousands  of  Hestorians.  Yet  how  impotent  is  all  human  sym¬ 
pathy  to  fill  the  aching  void  of  your  desolate  heart.  May 
Jesus  soothe  and  heal  the  deep  wounds  which  His  own  loving 
hand  has  inflicted. 

Our  thoughts  and  our  sympathies  go  forth  most  tenderly  also 


40 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN. 


to  that  unsuspecting  widow  and  those  orphan  children  far  away, 
to  whom  the  tidings  of  this  dark  providence  are  speeding  their 
course  on  the  wings  of  the  wind.  May  that  sorely  bereaved 
family  be  graciously  prepared  for  those  tidings,  and  fully  realize 
in  their  own  experience  the  richness  of  those  exceeding  great 
and  precious  promises  of  our  God  to  the  widow  and  the  father¬ 
less,  even  that  He  will  be  the  widow’s  God,  and  a  Father  to  the 
fatherless  ones. 

In  our  deep  affliction  as  a  bereaved  mission,  we  have  sources 
of  comfort  and  cause  for  gratitude  as  well  as  for  sorrow. 

It  is  a  matter  of  devout  thanksgiving  that  God  sent  into  the 
field  such  a  laborer  ;  spared  him  to  our  work  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century  under  such  unwonted  toils  and  burdens,  and  enabled 
him  to  accomplish  an  amount  of  good  that  very  seldom  crowns 
a  single  missionary  life. 

It  is  a  mercy  and  a  cause  for  gratitude  that  this  veteran  soldier 
was  permitted  to  return  to  the  land  of  his  missionary  sacrifices, 
and  lay  down  his  armor  on  the  field  of  conflict,  and  find  a  grave 
among  the  people  of  his  love  and  his  labors,  as  he  had  longed 
so  ardently  to  do,  having  publicly  expressed  that  desire  in  one 
of  the  last  meetings  that  he  attended  in  America. 

It  is  a  mercy  and  a  blessing,  for  which  we  should  be  devoutly 
thankful,  that  another  of  our  beloved  brethren  has  reached 
heaven,  leaving  behind  him  a  record  and  a  memory,  which  are 
so  priceless  a  legacy  to  the  missionary  cause  and  to  the  Church 
of  Christ  in  the  world. 

But  we  must  still  sorely  feel  the  greatness  of  our  loss,  and 
awake  to  it  more  and  more.  A  heavy  cloud  has  settled  upon 
us,  of  which  the  unwonted  dark  and  gloomy  atmosphere  at  the 
time  of  his  sickness  and  death,  and  for  many  days  afterward, 
was  but  too  fit  an  emblem.  We  know,  indeed,  that  the  upper 
surface,  on  which  he  gazes  is  illumed  with  the  brightness  of 
heaven,  but  to  us  it  is  most  emphatically  a  shadow  of  death. 
For  myself  I  may  say  that  I  reel  under  the  severity  of  the  blow, 
leaning  as  I  had  done  on  such  a  brother  for  twenty-five  years, 
and  that  faithful  and  “  beautiful  staff”  being  so  suddenly  taken 
from  my  side ;  and  it  cannot  be  far  otherwise  with  us  all.  Yet 
we  will  kiss  the  rod  that  inflicts  this  blow,  severe  as  it  is,  pray- 


THE  BELOVED  PHYSICIAN. 


41 


in g  that  his  mantle  may  rest  upon  ns,  and  seeking  so  to  improve 
the  very  afflictive  event  of  his  death  that  it  may  he  a  blessing 
to  us,  and  through  us  to  multitudes,  a  means  of  eternal  life. 
May  God  quicken  us  in  our  graces,  and  strengthen  us  for  our 
labors,  and  lead  us,  as  our  earthly  supports  are  removed,  to 
look  more  directly  up  unto  the  hills  from  whence  cometh  our 
help  ;  and  we  may  then  hope  that  the  cloud  which  has  so  sud¬ 
denly  and  sorrowfully  enveloped  us  will  burst  in  showers  os 
mercy  and  salvation,  as  has  often  been  the  case  in  our  experi¬ 
ences  of  our  Father’s  chastening  hand.  And  may  we  be 
quickened  by  this  solemn  providence  in  our  own  preparation 
for  death. 

“  Are  we  not  tending  upward,  too, 

As  fast  as  time  can  move  ? 

Nor  should  we  wish  the  hours  more  slow 
That  keep  us  from  our  love.” 

As  we  accompanied  our  brother  to  J ordan’s  bank  and  watched 
the  struggle  of  the  passage,  and  saw  the  last  enemy  vanquished, 
and  almost  caught  echoes  of  the  rapturous  songs  of  his  wel¬ 
come,  did  not  our  hearts  longingly  say,  “  Let  me  die  the  death 
of  the  righteous,  and  let  my  last  end  be  like  his  ?”  May  it  be 
thus  to  us  all !  Amen. 


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